Undeserved death

Published: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

I am not a member of the A-CURE organization, nor did I see its Trayvon Martin ad in the July 28 News Herald. However, after reading Ms. Andrea Hatcher’s letter (“No justification,” Aug. 16) I became hotter than a cotton-picking “colored boy” on a mid-summer day in the deep delta fields of Mississippi.

Ms. Hatcher’s views about the death of Trayvon Martin are the most arrogant and racist I’ve read since Donald Trump opined about the birth of President Obama. Her facts are twisted, her message is misguided, and her reasoning is illogical.

A throwback to the 1950s and ’60s is how I would describe Ms. Hatcher’s thinking. In her letter, she emphatically states that she is a middle-aged white woman. And having to shoot and kill a child would not be considered a tragedy; “if a child is old enough to attempt to kill another,” she writes, “he is old enough to be killed.”

I do not wish to re-litigate the George Zimmerman court case, but merely to make a profound point: If anyone believes this case and the verdict weren’t about race, I ask that you color five of the six jurors black and rewind the trial. Present-day reality, I assure you, would reveal a different verdict.

I therefore contend that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream” has yet to be realized, via practice, when it comes to racial equality and justice.

Contrary to Ms. Hatcher’s belief, I believe that Trayvon Martin died a needless and tragic death because he dared to stand his ground against a creepy fellow who insisted on following his every move.

Ms. Hatcher seems to have shot the “Stand Your Ground” law in its proverbial foot when she said, “We all avoid or are very wary of certain things because we know from past experience that they are problematic.” By using her logic, I would be justified in shooting someone white who I had verbally offended and they spat in my face. From my past experience, I came to learn and understand that people who would spit in your face would lynch you without thought. Hence, “Stand Your Ground” is a law without logic and serves only to attempt to vindicate Mr. Jim Crow and Klan.

I am not a member of the A-CURE organization, nor did I see its Trayvon Martin ad in the July 28 News Herald. However, after reading Ms. Andrea Hatcher’s letter (“No justification,” Aug. 16) I became hotter than a cotton-picking “colored boy” on a mid-summer day in the deep delta fields of Mississippi.

Ms. Hatcher’s views about the death of Trayvon Martin are the most arrogant and racist I’ve read since Donald Trump opined about the birth of President Obama. Her facts are twisted, her message is misguided, and her reasoning is illogical.

A throwback to the 1950s and ’60s is how I would describe Ms. Hatcher’s thinking. In her letter, she emphatically states that she is a middle-aged white woman. And having to shoot and kill a child would not be considered a tragedy; “if a child is old enough to attempt to kill another,” she writes, “he is old enough to be killed.”

I do not wish to re-litigate the George Zimmerman court case, but merely to make a profound point: If anyone believes this case and the verdict weren’t about race, I ask that you color five of the six jurors black and rewind the trial. Present-day reality, I assure you, would reveal a different verdict.

I therefore contend that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream” has yet to be realized, via practice, when it comes to racial equality and justice.

Contrary to Ms. Hatcher’s belief, I believe that Trayvon Martin died a needless and tragic death because he dared to stand his ground against a creepy fellow who insisted on following his every move.

Ms. Hatcher seems to have shot the “Stand Your Ground” law in its proverbial foot when she said, “We all avoid or are very wary of certain things because we know from past experience that they are problematic.” By using her logic, I would be justified in shooting someone white who I had verbally offended and they spat in my face. From my past experience, I came to learn and understand that people who would spit in your face would lynch you without thought. Hence, “Stand Your Ground” is a law without logic and serves only to attempt to vindicate Mr. Jim Crow and Klan.